


Tenjin's Will

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [73]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29865858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: Tenjin's will reveals a vital secret.
Series: In The Darkness [73]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/547369
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Tenjin's Will

The wedding was fast approaching. They had set up the marquee outside the Burrow, prepared the house and the food, and organised all of their outfits for the big day. Kazuma had recovered enough that he was up and walking, the bandages removed and only a half-hidden scar behind his ear to show for his bravery. His glasses had fallen from his pocket during the attack, leaving him somewhat blind and relying on an old pair of glasses Kofuku had found in the kitchen drawer for the time being.

It seemed strange that in the midst of the chaos there was a celebration, but it was a welcome one. Teacher-student formalities had been brushed aside, and it let strange to not have to call Kofuku ‘Madame’ anymore. It would be a hard habit to break.

But before any celebration, there was business to attend to.

Kofuku rushed upstairs to the rooms Hiyori and Yato and Yukine had been given. She popped her head around Yato’s and Yukine’s door after a sharp knock.

“Come downstairs, someone needs to talk to you,” Kofuku said. She disappeared before Yato could ask who, but he heard her muffled voice across the hall telling Hiyori the same thing.

Yato and Yukine exchanged looks and made their way downstairs, meeting Hiyori on the landing. Kofuku gestured to the open door across the hall, Daigo clinging to her legs as he usually did, and they filed in.

In the sitting room was a man they didn’t recognise. He wore a dark suit, robes and hat which he took off upon their entry. His hair was dark and short, the same colour as his eyes as they took in the three teenagers before him. Yato felt a chill run through him when he smiled, like an unfounded, imperceptible hostility directed towards him.

“Good evening,” the man said. “I take it you are the beneficiaries?”

Yato, Hiyori and Yukine exchanged looks.

“You mean… like, heirs?” Yukine asked.

“Yes, of a sort,” the man replied. He sat down and placed his hat on the table between the two sofas. Yato, Hiyori and Yukine sat opposite him.

“I am Mitsurugi, Advisor to the Minister of Magic Amaterasu. I am here today for the reading of Headmaster Tenjin’s will.”

Yato, Hiyori and Yukine looked at each other again, but their confusion went unnoticed. Yato watched, trying to place where else he’d seen him from, as Mitsurugi produced a small scroll from his pocket and began to read.

“ _The Last Will and Testament of Tenjin Sugawara no Michizane_.”

The three of them straightened themselves, hands clasped in laps and over knees.

“ _To Mister Yukine, I leave my Deluminator in the hope it leads the way in the darkest of nights_.”

Mitsurugi produced a silver oblong object, similar to a cigarette lighter, and passed it across the table. Yukine flicked open the cap and the lights in the room were sucked into the object with a click. He flicked it open again and they watched as the light returned to their lamps.

“ _To Miss Hiyori_ ,” Mitsuguri straightened the scroll. “ _I leave my copy of_ The Tales of Beedle the Bard _in the hope she finds it entertaining and enlightening_.”

A copy of an aged book was dropped into Hiyori’s hands, the cover shimmering with gilded lettering and the edges yellowed from age and pipe smoke. It smelt exactly like the headmaster’s office, and an unexpected lump formed in Yato’s throat.

“ _And to Mister Yato, I leave the first Snitch he caught at Hogwarts_.”

Mitsurugi held out a golden Snitch in the palm of his hand, the wings concealed within its spherical body. Yato gently took it and rolled it in his palm, confused. He didn’t know how Tenjin could have such a thing saved away for him. Surely they just used the same one every match?

After a beat of expectant silence, Yukine spoke. “Is that all?”

“Not quite,” Mitsurugi said, but he was already rolling the scroll back up and tucking it away. His face had taken on a bitter look. “Tenjin left another object, meant for Yato.”

Another beat of silence before Yato’s curiosity got the better of him. “What is it?”

“The Sword of Godric Gryffindor.”

Yato paused. Beside him Hiyori and Yukine tensed, unsure if it was a bad joke. He could not see a ruby-hilted sword in the room, nor did it look like it was concealed on Mitsuguri’s person. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “So where is it?”

“Unfortunately, that sword was not Tenjin’s to give,” Mitsurugi abruptly stood and placed his hat back on his head. “As it is such an artefact of historical importance, it will be kept in its rightful place in Hogwarts.”

Mitsuguri looked back down at the three sat on the sofa. “My condolences for your loss.”

He tipped his hat and walked out of the door without a glance.

Yato looked at Hiyori and Yukine. “Anyone else get a weird vibe from him?”

“Like a basket full of spiders,” Hiyori said. So it wasn’t just him that noticed.

Hiyori and Yukine followed as Yato stood up, clutching their bequests as they filtered out of the sitting room. Kofuku seemed to be waiting for them by the open front door, having shown the Advisor out. They could hear Daigo clattering with a tea set loudly from the kitchen, followed by a shattering teacup and a soft 'uh oh', but Kofuku didn't seem to hear.

“Why is the Minister of Magic sending her minions to my house?” Kofuku asked as the three emerged. Her eyes fell on the items in their hands, and her eyebrow quirked.

Daikoku’s footsteps approached from outside, and a second later he was at the porch. He placed his hands on Kofuku’s shoulders, dwarfing her with a curious look at the items in their hands.

“Tenjin’s will,” Yato replied. He lifted the Snitch between his forefinger and thumb. “He left me this, and the Sword of Gryffindor – not that I’ll ever get it.”

Kofuku pursed her lips. Yato could sense the change in her mood instantly, as such was Kofuku’s rarely seen temper he had not yet been at the mercy of – yet.

“Well, I’m sure he had a reason to leave these things to you. You three were good students to him,” Kofuku said. She turned quickly and brushed past Daikoku into the kitchen. 

Daikoku gave them an apologetic look and followed after her. A few moments later they could hear his voice lowly talking, and Yato felt a stab of guilt that they, Tenjin’s oldest and closest friends, seemed to have received nothing.

Yato started up the stairs, closely followed by an equally guilty Yukine and Hiyori. They pushed their way into the small single room on the second floor where Hiyori slept and shut the door quietly.

“I wonder why Tenjin left these to us,” Yukine mused, finally feeling free to talk. He flicked the Deluminator open and shut. It did nothing as the only light source in the room was the sun filtering through the window. “And more importantly, why would Tenjin try to give you the sword?”

Yukine dropped to the floor opposite the bed, back against the wall and legs splayed across the floor. Hiyori picked her way over his legs to stand the window, arms folded around the book Tenjin gifted her.

Yato shrugged. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the ceiling. He could honestly say he had no idea that Tenjin would have left them anything in his will, or why Kofuku and Daikoku weren’t included. But Yato couldn’t help but think it may have been his way in helping them even in death. “Maybe he thought it would help destroy the horcruxes?”

Yukine hummed in response, but Hiyori shook her head absentmindedly.

“No,” Hiyori answered. “Horcruxes can only be destroyed in certain ways.”

Yato and Yukine looked at her. Hiyori glanced at them and shied away, realising that she had put her foot in it.

“How do you know how to destroy horcruxes?” Yukine asked curiously.

Hiyori licked her lips and looked at Yato. There was a crease in his brow, and she could see now that there was no pretending that she didn’t know something.

“I was going to tell you, after the wedding,” Hiyori started.

“Tell us what?” Yato pressed.

Hiyori’s eyes fell on her suitcase, half-empty and holding only a few objects she’d brought from home. She placed the book in the windowsill and shuffled around inside her suitcase, pulling mismatched socks and a small clutch bag from inside. Hiyori turned back, holding another book to her chest. Yukine pulled himself back up and leant against the wall, letting Hiyori sidestep him to sit on the bed beside Yato.

“In Professor Tenjin’s office, when we went up there after…” Hiyori trailed off. She dropped the book to her lap to break away from the memory of Professor Tenjin’s office being cleared of his belongings. “There was a book on the desk that caught my eye: _Secrets of the Darkest Art._ It was taken off the library shelves years ago…”

Yato and Yukine looked on, agape that Hiyori had smuggled a book out of Hogwarts. A _restricted_ Dark Arts book.

Hiyori continued, looking guilty. “It looked like Professor Tenjin was researching how to destroy horcruxes. I wanted to give you an answer to that question rather than another thing to worry about.”

“I can’t believe you stole a book,” Yukine said, shaking his head.

“I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it!” Hiyori shot back. “I don’t think Professor Tenjin would be angry – it’s not like we’re using it to make a Horcrux. It looked like he was trying to find a way to break the curses on them.”

“Does it say anything about how to destroy them?” Yato craned his neck as Hiyori opened the heavy leather binding. The pages were thin and inked in small black lettering, decorations and diagrams on every page of snakes, creatures and dark marks.

“It does,” Hiyori answered. She turned the fragile pages on the tips of her fingers, scanning the pages for the chapter she was on. “It warns Dark Wizards how strong the horcrux enchantments have to be. To break them, you have to use something very powerful so that the Horcrux can’t repair itself.”

Hiyori stopped on a page and lay the book flat on her lap so Yato and Yukine could see the inscription beneath a diagram of a horcrux. They cocked their heads and squinted, but Hiyori summarised for them.

“The soul fragment needs a vessel to live. If your body is destroyed your soul would live on, but it works the other way for a horcrux – if it’s the vessel is destroyed it won’t be able to survive.”

“So, we have to focus on destroying the vessel, not the soul?” Yato asked. His eyes roamed the page for clues, taking note of a hand-drawn symbol; a circle enclosed in a triangle with a vertical line dividing it.

“Yes,” Hiyori said. She gently closed the book and folded her hands across it. “But sometimes, the soul can latch onto fragments, so only a few things can completely destroy a horcrux.”

“Like?” Yukine prompted. 

Hiyori frowned. “The only thing really mentioned here is Basilisk venom. It's fatal and there’s only one antidote which is incredibly rare-,”

“Phoenix tears,” Yato and Hiyori said in unison. They exchanged looks and a smile quirked at Hiyori’s lips.

“Good, I’ve been trying to think of a use for all the Basilisk venom we have,” Yukine said dryly. “Maybe Madame Kofuku has some downstairs.”

“I wouldn’t put it past that woman,” Yato murmured. “At least we know of one thing that can definitely kill them.”

There was a moment's silence as they came down from the joy of the revelation. They may have found one way to kill them, but Basilisk venom was near impossible to come by.

Yato’s thoughts drifted back to Grimmauld Place. He wanted to go back there to collect the horcruxes, but Kofuku told him they would be safer there under lock, key, spell and enchantment. She was probably right – no one knew of Grimmauld Place except the Order. Still, they had no idea how the ring horcrux was destroyed, and Professor Tenjin either didn’t know how or didn’t divulge that information to him.

“Do you think the Sword of Gryffindor can destroy horcruxes?” Yukine asked. “It would make sense since Professor Tenjin left it to you.”

“It doesn’t mention it anywhere in here,” Hiyori tapped the book twice with a finger. “This book may be just as old as Godric Gryffindor, so if it did, it would say.”

“Is there anything else about the sword that would’ve helped us?” Yato asked, dropping back on his elbows.

“ _The Sword of Gryffindor was made by goblins a thousand years ago_ ,” Hiyori recited a passage that had enraptured her in her first year at Hogwarts, when they learnt about the founders and Hogwarts’ history. “ _Created by Ragnuk the First, goblin-made items such as the Sword of Gryffindor absorb what makes them stronger…_ ”

The realisation clicked within a second of uttering the final passage. Hiyori whipped her head around to Yato, fingers curling into the rough leather of the book. “You killed the Basilisk with the sword, so maybe…”

“The blade has Basilisk venom within it to kill horcruxes,” Yato finished, eyes were shining. Tenjin knew the true nature of the sword – he knew it would help them defeat the Sorcerer.

“That’s why Tenjin left it to you,” Hiyori said softly.

Yukine rolled his eyes at the pair and huffed. It was already lunchtime and he could smell bacon wafting up the stairs. “Well, it’s no use to use now if its locked in Hogwarts. Unless….”

“We are not stealing the Sword of Gryffindor,” Hiyori cut in.

Yato and Yukine exchanged knowing looks that suggested that maybe they would have to. Yukine and Hiyori, after all, were still technically seventh-year students at Hogwarts, whether they decided to go back or not. It wouldn’t be too hard…

“I mean it!” Hiyori exclaimed. “We will find a way to get it without raiding Hogwarts.”

Yato, however, had a feeling that they may have to break a few rules if they wanted to defeat the Sorcerer.


End file.
